sturgeon steak

Sturgeon is one of the oldest fishes that survives till today. For some people seeing the appearance of this ancient creature is enough to foul the appetite if this fish is served.
image linked from Wikipedia

french country beef stews

For all the years of cooking I had only made beef stews in the French method. My friend recently gave me two pounds of bottom round of the grass-fed beef they he would buy as a half cow. Out of a whim I decide to cook it with the French technique, with mirepoix and red wine as the foundation. I know he and his family would enjoy a rich beef stew so I bring the finish pot of stew to their house for dinner, together with some boiled carrots (also prepared in the French method) and some fresh herbs for serving.

signs of spring

Here in the Pacific Northwest we have been having a very mild March. In the last few days you and see the daily change in the vegetation. The buds on the plum tree in my garden were barely noticeable a couple of weeks ago. This morning there are already a few early boomers; just a few barely open little pink flowers.

the plight of africa's elephants 非洲大象的悲劇

I enjoy watching every PBS's (National Geographic's) Natures program. Compared to human wild animals in nature live very tough live and these excellent programs show you their joys as well as their hardships. Of all that I have watched this one about the alarming decimation of elephants in Africa is most heart breaking for me because their daily tragedy is willfully caused by human. In the last 10 year or so the earth has lost incredible number of these extreme endangered mammals due to insatiable demand for the carved ivory made with elephant tusks by many Chinese people with the rising wealth.

chiuchow black pepper pig stomach soup 潮州胡椒猪肚湯

Chiuchow 潮州 cuisine is one of the least represented Chinese food in the West. Chiuchow 潮州, is the pronunciation in Cantonese 廣東話 of a region of Northeast corner of Guangdong 廣東 province. It is often referred to as Chaozhou as the pronunciation in Mandarin 普通話 . In respecting the proper pronunciation of the dialect of the province I prefer Chiuchow.